Msungama admits using taxpayers money for India medical trip:  ‘I had no hair transplant’

Embattled Minister of Youth and Sports Ulemu Msungama has admitted that he is paranoid with his hair loss but has denied that he underwent a hair transplant during his recent medical trip to India, which he conceded was a cost to the taxpayer.

Briefing journalists in Lilongwe on Tuesday, Msungama  said government funded his air tickets and accommodation in India.

But he said the trip was to get  medical help on a leg problem and said he had taken advantage of the trip to undergo  a lipomas  surgery on his back and  back of his head [Zotupa}.

Msungama said he had no hair transplant but he uses a  fibre hair chemical.

“I use hair building fibbers to cover the bald areas on my head,” said Msungama.

The minister said the fibbers are  bought off the shelf at pharmacies in  UK by his brother  at the equivalent of K20000 a bottle.

“The truth of the matter is that I never had hair transplant and the bandage that covered my head was meant to cover the back of my head where the lipomas had been removed,” said Msungama, a close ally to President Lazarus Chakwera.

The minister said he  sustained a leg injury while playing social football at Parliament in August 2019, saying has been to Beit Cure hospital and was later referred to India for knee surgery by Kamuzu Central Hospital, so he decided to use the opportunity to undergo further surgeries.

He, however, said despite government paying for his air ticket and accommodation, the medical treatment was settled through his  Masm   (Medical Aid Society of Malawi  —the country’s biggest health insurance scheme by membership).

“I did consult Masm,  if the scheme would also cover my three Lipomas, two at the back and one just at the back of my head. These Lipomas were also removed in India,” he said.

He said it was  MASM which  further engaged Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH)  to verify if indeed his leg problem required this referral treatment and KCH confirmed that indeed Msungama  really needed to travel for possible knee surgery  to avoid amputating  the leg.

During the news conference Albert Mungumo, the Central Region Branch Manager for MASM said the medical aid scheme would foot all costs once furnished with information from India.